Paint effects are an easy way to add realistic trees, grass, and plants to your scene.  There are also other paint
effects brushes that will create everything from glass to meat.

There are two ways to use paint effects.  You can paint in 3d or in 2d.  You can use 3d paint effects to add objects to your scene.  Or you can use 2d paint effects to create a background image or texture.

2d Paint Effects

1) First we will setup your work area.

• Change to the rendering menu set.
• I think it is best to use a 2 panel stacked layout.  The top panel should be the Paint Effects panel and the bottom panel should be the visor panel.
• In the visor minimize the Animation, Rendering, Create, and /export/Users... sections.  Open the section labeled '/usr/aw/maya/brushes/'.  This is where you will find all of the available brushes.
• In the Paint Effects window go to Paint>Paint Canvas.  This changes from 3d paint effects to 2d paint effects.
• Go to Canvas>Clear [ ] to change the clear options.  In this window you can change what color the canvas is.  Either click on the color or move the slider.  I chose white.

2) Start painting.

• Now just choose a brush and start painting on the canvas.  When you are done you can go to Paint>Save Snapshot to save your image.  Now you could use it for a background or texture.

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comments..suggestions..questions:  josh@occipital.net